I never raised a dollar and still exited at $44k MRR

October 28, 2025

Hey there,

I never raised a single dollar for any of my apps.

Not for Grid. Not for Puff Count. Not for Posted.

Zero VC money. Zero angel investors. Zero pitch decks.

Just me, my work ethic, and whatever revenue I could generate.

And honestly? It was the best decision I ever made.

Everyone said I was doing it wrong: 

You need capital to scale.
You need investors to grow fast.
You need funding to compete.

I didn't buy it.

I watched too many founders give up equity for capital they didn't need.

They raised money, built big teams and burned through cash.
Then had to answer to investors who didn't understand their vision.

Meanwhile, I was moving fast with zero approval needed.

When I wanted to test a new paywall, I tested it.
When I wanted to pivot the marketing strategy, I pivoted.
When I wanted to sell Puff Count at $44k MRR, I sold it.

This is the freedom of bootstrapping.

But Bootstrapping also forced me to build lean from the start.

I couldn't burn money on fancy offices or huge teams. I had to make every dollar count.

That constraint made me better. It made me focus on what actually drives revenue instead of vanity metrics.

Here's what I learned: Capital doesn't solve problems. It just hides them temporarily.

If you can't get to $10k MRR without outside money, you probably can't get there with it either.

Your business model is either broken or you haven't figured out the fundamentals yet.

Most founders use VC money as a crutch to skip the hard work: validating demand, optimizing conversions, building real systems.

I chose the harder path: I bootstrapped everything, built lean but also kept full control.

And when I exited Puff Count, I kept 100% of the sale price.

I didn’t have to pay back any investors.

That's the freedom most founders give away in the first funding round.

Peace,
Steven